Yellin' from the Rooftop
by piratewench78
Summary: Girls just wanna have fun. Even if they're Juliette Barnes. Written for the July Fanfic Challenge.


**This is written for the July Fanfic Challenge. The prompt was 1) a message of some sort and 2) at least one character (other than or along with Rayna and Deacon) who plays a pivotal role. Many thanks to KarenES for the beta read and for the encouragement!**

Avery sat at his kitchen table, drinking bad coffee, and considered the fact that he had actually been on stage, at The Bluebird, with Juliette Barnes, less than three weeks ago for her mother's memorial service. Playing lead guitar for her. Actually being kind of a friend and confidant. When had that happened? How had that happened? He shook his head and laughed to himself as he thought about how he'd gotten to that place.

In truth, it wasn't all that funny. He thought he was going to be the next big thing and, after a disastrous experience with Dominic Wells in Atlanta, he had made his way back to Nashville and totally hit rock bottom. He had lucked into a roadie gig with Juliette Barnes' tour that, almost like the fairy tales that she bashed, turned into a lead guitar gig with her band.

He thought about Juliette. She was a ball buster, that was for sure. She could turn on the charm when she wanted, but she had a mean streak and you were never more than inches away from being on the wrong end of her nasty stick. Truth be told, Avery was a little afraid of her. She'd made a pass at him one night that he was able to deflect with no ill effect, but he was wary. He also respected her. She had pulled herself up from nothing, a lot like he had, although she surely had gone farther, faster than he had. He admired that about her and was envious at the same time. He was glad to be her lead guitar player, but he didn't want to be a Deacon Claybourne, satisfied with riding the coattails of whichever singer had him under contract this week. Avery Barkley had bigger dreams than that.

But he was grateful for where he was and grateful that, for now, he seemed to be in Juliette's good graces. The Red Lips, White Lies tour was over and he appreciated the little bit of downtime.

He got up from the table and poured out the nasty coffee into the sink. He hadn't had a decent cup of coffee since he'd lived with Scarlett. Which then made him think about Scarlett. He had treated her badly and she had rightfully dumped him. He had been embarrassed when she saw him at his roadie gig; he was sure that she was laughing at him behind his back. But when he saw her later that same night, she was kind, and when she took him up on his invitation for brunch, he tried hard not to read too much into it.

But then Deacon had mysteriously quit Juliette's band literally minutes before she was due to go on stage at Edgehill's CMA nomination party and he had gotten his opportunity. Things were looking up, Scarlett seemed to be wavering on Gunnar, and maybe life was about to change for Avery Barkley.

His phone bleated and he picked it up. _Hey. Wanna play today?_ It was a text from Juliette. One thing about her was that she was constantly on the move, constantly working. If she wasn't writing songs, she was recording them or she was practicing them or she was rehearsing or touring. She never stopped, even on a break. He texted back. _Sure. Where?_

_I'm picking you up. Be ready in 20._

###

Avery was standing on his front step with his guitar case in hand when Juliette drove up in her pickup truck. She stuck her head out the window and waved at his guitar. "You aren't going to need that," she hollered. "Put it up and come on!"

Avery shook his head, but opened the front door, stuck the guitar inside and then hurried down the steps to her truck. She was definitely an unpredictable chick. He got in and looked at her. She was wearing worn out blue jeans, a Tennessee Titans t shirt, and cowboy boots. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she didn't have a lick of make up on. "So what's up?" he asked.

She smiled. "We're gonna go play." Then she laughed. "I mean really play. We're gonna go have some fun!" She laughed at the look Avery shot her. "What, you don't think I know how to have fun?"

Avery grinned sheepishly. "Well, yeah, but your kind of fun doesn't seem like it would involve dressing like the common folk." He nodded at her outfit.

Juliette bit her lip. Avery wondered if he'd stepped out of line. Then she looked at him with one of her dazzling smiles and said, "You're lucky you're cute and that I like you. I'm going to let you get away with that."

Avery exhaled. "So where are we gonna go?"

"I thought we'd go someplace where we could play. So we're gonna go to this place over by Opryland that has miniature golf and go karts."

Avery couldn't help it, he laughed out loud. "Juliette Barnes is going to play miniature golf and ride go karts? Seriously?"

She put the truck in gear and headed down the road. "Yep. You just wait and see."

###

When they got to Grand Old Golf, Games and Go Karts, Juliette decided they would play all three miniature golf courses. "Have you ever played miniature golf?" Avery asked.

Juliette shook her head with a smile. "Uh uh. This will be my first time. Will you teach me?" She gave him a coy look.

Avery laughed. "I will. But don't expect me to let you win."

"Oh, but I'm a fast learner. I might just beat you anyway." They headed out to the first course. It was fairly crowded that day, but Avery saw that Juliette had been crafty about the outfit she chose to wear, in addition to the sunglasses and baseball cap she had added as they got out of the truck. No one seemed to know who she was. She looked just like any other girl out to have a fun day.

On the first course, she played like most novice players. She hit the ball too hard and it came right back to where she started, she had double the number of strokes as Avery for each hole, if not more, and she lost a ball at almost every hole. But she was laughing and enjoying the experience and Avery enjoyed it with her. And she was right, by the third course, she had figured it out and beat him by three strokes.

He tapped the handle of his club against his head in deference to her. "The lady was telling the truth. You are a quick learner."

Juliette smiled broadly. "See?" Then she laughed. "That was fun. I can't believe I've never played that before."

As they went to return their clubs, Avery said, "So what kinds of things _did_ you do for fun when you were growing up?"

Juliette shrugged. "I didn't have a chance to go play. If I wasn't taking care of Mama, I was trying to get out of wherever I was at the time. I was so focused on getting out of Alabama that I didn't have time to do anything else." She looked a little wistful. "So I didn't get a chance to do stuff like this." She looked up at Avery. "Thank you for doing this with me. I was afraid to tell you what I wanted to do because I thought you'd think it was stupid."

Avery frowned and shook his head. "No, I wouldn't. I'm glad you invited me to do this with you." When they had turned in their gear, he nodded towards the Go Kart area. "So what about go karts? Have you ever done that?"

Juliette shook her head and smiled shyly. "Nope, not that either."

"Want to?" When she nodded, he took her hand and they headed towards the go kart arena. After racing each other multiple times, they finally stopped and went to get a beer. She had been fearless on the track, racing her go kart as fast as she could, not minding if she spun out or crashed.

"That was fun, Avery Barkley. Thank you for coming out to play with me." She winked at him. "So how about driving out with me to the river?"

"I'm game."

###

Juliette pulled onto the land she had bought and parked her pickup near the river bank. They got out and sat on the back of the truck. "I bought this place after my first triple platinum record. One day I think I might like to build a house out here."

Avery looked at her. "Really? You seem like the type that would want to be in the middle of the action."

Juliette shook her head. "You would think, right? But there are lots of times I'd just like to be in the middle of nowhere and just chill." She picked at a thread on her jeans. "You know, this year has been a hell of a year. All the stuff with my mama, that was so hard. Then there was the nail polish thing and everybody trying to get me to 'fix' my image. I feel bad about how things went with Sean, but you know, I hardly even remember that part of my life anymore."

"I think we all have stuff we'd like to forget. Or get away from."

She pointed towards him. "What about you? What do you want to get away from?"

Avery thought about that. "I made some really bad choices with my career. I had a band and I screwed that up. I got a record deal because of a deal I made with a manager, who really wasn't looking out for my best interests. And that turned out to be a major mistake. I felt like I had sold my soul to the devil. And I lost my girlfriend in the process."

Juliette looked thoughtful. "Oh, yeah, Deacon Claybourne's niece, right?" Avery nodded. "Well, you're probably better off without all those entanglements anyway."

Avery chuckled. "Oh, that's right, you don't believe in love."

Juliette shook her head. "No, I don't. That bastard Dante screwed that all up for me." She looked away and sniffed. When she looked back, she was smiling again. "Did you hear that I get to tour on my own again?"

"Really? That's great."

"Damn right it is. I could not believe the drama I had to go through on that last tour. Having to open for someone, even half the time, is not my idea of a Juliette Barnes tour. I do not need that drama again!"

Avery laughed and she cut her eyes over to him. "What?"

Avery smiled. "I think all country music queens have to have drama. Isn't that what country music is all about?"

"You're probably right," she said and laughed. "Look at Miss Fancy Pants Rayna Jaymes. Who knew all her drama? I mean, I'm glad she's all right and all that, but she was creating drama the whole time we were touring together, whether she was trying to or not." She rolled her eyes. "I'm glad not to have to tour with her again." She played again with a thread on her jeans. Then she said quietly, "In spite of all that, I wouldn't mind having what she has. Respect, a good collaborator, a long career. There could be worse things."

"I think we'd all like to have those things, more or less. I think we all come to Nashville to make it somehow. We just never know where the path will take us."

"You know, Avery, I'd like for you to stay on with me as my lead guitar player. I appreciate that you jumped in when I needed someone and you turned out to be pretty damn good. I also wouldn't mind having someone to write with." She looked at him coyly. "I wouldn't mind if you'd be my next collaborator. Maybe you could be my Deacon."

Avery looked off towards the woods. "You know, you don't really want to be the next Rayna Jaymes. You want to be the first and only Juliette Barnes."

"Yeah, I guess." She looked thoughtful. "You know, Deacon and I wrote 'Undermine' out here and it was the start of a good partnership. For a while anyway. Would it be so bad for you and me to do that?"

Avery leaned his head back against the truck bed. He knew that once he said what he wanted to say that he might be back where he started before he got the roadie gig. But he had decided when he came back to Nashville that he wasn't going to let someone else determine his path. "You know, Juliette, I'd love to write with you and I'm happy to play in your band for now. But I don't want to be your Deacon Claybourne. If that's what you want, maybe you should try to get him back. One day I'm going to have to step out of your shadow and make it on my own."

Juliette was quiet. She doodled absentmindedly on her leg for a bit. Then she turned back to Avery. "You know what? You remind me a lot of me. If I had started out as a backup singer to Rayna Jaymes, I wouldn't have wanted to stay there either." She smiled at Avery. "I think you and me are gonna have a lot of fun, however long this road lasts. And hopefully this won't be the last time we play together." With that she stood up and stripped down to her underwear. She turned back to Avery with a sassy smile. "So, you up for some swimming?" And she ran to the river, with Avery's laughter following her.


End file.
